Can't testify to the FN at all other than the feel wonderful in the hand. I briefly had a PX4 full size chambered in .45 Auto. I absolutely loved the gun, felt wonderful in the hands, recoil of a 9mm out of a .45, accurate, great trigger, easy to maintain. But I had issues with it failing to go into battery. It did this 3 times, all with factory ammo of different brands(PMC Bronze, Speer Lawman, and Winchester White Box).

Beretta's love to be wet and heavily oiled, unlike other guns where a drop will do, a Beretta likes 3-4 drops. This is advice passed to me from a few close friends in the Army.

A very close friend has a PX4 compact 9mm and he recently had the same failure to go into battery as I did. As far as I know it only happened to him once. I have since traded it for a Beretta 96 Centurion which I'm in love with.

The FNX-9 is a great gun. The backstraps are aggressive, but there is a softer option. The slide has a very substantial feel, allowing for the gun to be very well balanced. Safety / decocker is nice and easier to reach than Beretta in my opinion (think HK knockoff), the slide takedown is intuitive, and its a lefthanded friendly gun, not an issue for me.

The lowered bore axis is actually noticable when firing the gun, the gun more naturally points down and forward in succession for me than other guns in its class.

I was looking at both the FNX and PX4, and opted for the FN obviously, dont regret it. Im still going to pick up a Storm at some point, but for what its worth, the FNX is my nightstand weapon. That wont change anytime too soon.

the PX4 is a great gun, very good recoil management, nice trigger, good feel in hand.

I have no personal experience with the FNX but my old gun nut buddy from my old division in the navy bought one and sold it after a couple weeks... then again I also know the guy he sold it too and he loves it.

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I have a fullsize PX4 9mm Inox and a stainless FNS-9 (basically a striker fired version of the FNX-9). Both are excellent guns! The frames of the FNS-9 and FNX-9 appear to be indentical except for the size of the thumb safety on the FNS-9 and the safety/decocker on the FNX-9. I have read that some people say the FNX-9 thumb safety gets in the way of their strong hand thumb when gripping the gun and at times when switching off the safety you can go past the fire position and decock the gun. The thumb safety on the FNS-9 is much smaller than the FNX-9. Of course the PX4 has a slide mounted safety/decocker with "bat winged" levers which you may or may not like. The grip on the FNS/FNX is much more textured than the PX4. I find the PX4 grip to be a little slick and I put a Hogue Handall slip on grip on it. I find the PX4 recoil a little softer than the FNS possibly due to the rotating barrel of the PX4. The night sights on my FNS are excellent. My PX4 has fairly large three dot sights which I also like. Buy the one that fits your hand the best. You won't go wrong with either.

I can say something about Beretta because years ago it was my very first center fire pistol and currently have three. Beretta is one of the few brands I would consider buying sight unseen because of their consistent quality. Other brands tend to have cosmetic or other inconsistent issues.

I have owned a PX4 .40 fullsize type F for coming on 5 years now, and coming on 5,000 rounds. It has never skipped a beat, and never given any indication of being anything but excellent quality. It has also fed a wide variety of loads happily, including five shapes of popular carry JHP (HST, Gold Dot, Ranger-T, PDX1, and Remington Golden Saber have all run smooth as silk, if I recall correctly).

It's a fantastic pistol. It was a crazy bargain at the $399 it was going for before the panic, and is still reasonable at the $520-550 it goes for now. I have had some time with the FNP (not FNX or FNS, the current series) and while it was a quality gun, my subjective feel was that the Beretta was nicer. The Beretta magazines are way nicer, but that's true about almost every brand versus the Brescia-made Beretta and Mec-Gar magazines. Italians know how to make a nice mag.

Karrill I am also L/H and like the placement of the decock/safety lever and the slide release on the FN. Without buying a L/H gun the FN felt good. I did like the grip of the Beretta, but the "batwing" lever I really didn't care for.

Is there a noticable difference in models as far as recoil? Not necessarily between these to guns, but in general?

Sounds like you're leaning toward the FN. I don't have either but I've always been intrigued by the rotary locking system Beretta introduced with the Cougar. The Storm is supposed to have improved in accuracy over the Cougar. Beretta Claims that the rotary locking system reduces recoil and most Storm owners tend to agree with that. It would be nice if you could go to a range and rent and fire both pistols. If price was the same, my intrigue with the rotary action would favor the Storm.

Konk if you're left handed I'd go with the FNX-9 or FNS-9 over the PX4 since all of the FN's controls are ambidextrous. The slide stop on the FN's is small and is more of a stop than a slide release. I "sling shot" my slide to release it rather than try and use the small slide stop lever.

On the fullsize PX4, the safety/decocker is already ambidextrous. The mag release can be moved to the right side. The slide stop cannot be moved to the right side of the gun, no place for the slide stop nor is there a notch in the slide on the right side. The PX4 Compact model comes with an ambi slide release.

I have had both. I, personally, don't like slide-mounted safeties. I, personally, don't like DA/SA.

The FNX-9 is great because it can be carried like a Beretta or a Sig (decocked and safety off) or it can be carried Condition I (like a 1911, cocked and safety on).

Condition I lets you enjoy the same light, short SA trigger pull for every shot but requires you to deactivate the safety before pulling the trigger.

Carrying it like a Beretta or a Sig lets you just pull the trigger when you need to fire it. You don't have to worry about deactivating the safety. But, unfortunately, your first shot is going to be more of a challenge to pull off well because it is a long heavy DA trigger pull followed by the easier to use light SA trigger pulls until the gun is empty.

I would rather get a Sig than a Beretta because Sigs lack the slide mounted safety.

But, I would rather have an FNX over either because 1) You can carry it the same way if that tickles your fancy. 2) Condition I (IMHO) is better for better shooting.

My only complaint with the Beretta besides having to carry it in Condition III is that the safety is mounted on the slide. That makes it possible to accidentally switch the safety on when clearing a malfunction.

My only complaint with the FNX is that the base or most rearward portion of the safety dug into my thumb a little bit while firing because of how it sticks out. Its not a big deal because its plastic and I have a big thumb knuckle anyway.

I don't think there's a wrong answer here. I think that the Beretta has better fit and finish and the FN has a better trigger and perhaps more reliability. I think that the rotating system isn't bad, but I've also experience 2 or 3 failures to go fully into battery with a dirty PX4. If you are really in love with that design, I think that Grand Power has really taken it to a higher level and they are being imported now at a nice price point by Century Arms (note: Century Arms isn't making them, just importing them )

Thanks for the great feed back. I found a range in Green Bay that I can visit and shoot various hand guns and only pay for the ammo I use. I don't know what they sell, but it will be a good starting point. They are a full service shop that offers CC classes, shooting instruction, ect.

On the fullsize PX4, the safety/decocker is already ambidextrous. The mag release can be moved to the right side. The slide stop cannot be moved to the right side of the gun, no place for the slide stop nor is there a notch in the slide on the right side. The PX4 Compact model comes with an ambi slide release.

I stand corrected, I forgot that only the compact ones had the reversible slide release.

I am completely biased here so take that for what it's worth. I have an FNS which has been said its the striker fired version of the FNX. I love it a lot. So far it's my favorite gun that I've ever shot or owned. As well I believe FNH is a top notch firearms manufacturer. I will probably end up buying a multitude of items from them in the future.

Just a long overdue follow up, I did go with the FNX but I got the .40 instead of the 9mm. I have about 500 rounds through it with out any issues. What I did discover though was finding a holster to be a challenge. Took a while but I finally bought a Safariland. Just couldn't find anything for a FN. Thanks for all the early help!

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